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Thai Agribusiness Giant Sees More Opportunities in Post-WTO Chinese Market
After China enters the World Trade Organization (WTO), Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group will face more competition in the agribusiness sector, but it will also embrace more opportunities in commerce and retailing, the group's Chairman Dhanin Chearavanont told Xinhua in a recent interview in Bangkok.
Soft-spoken and confident, Dhanin said he is never afraid of competition from western agribusiness companies after China's accession to the world trade body.
"We've been competing with them in the world market for decades.
In terms of technology and management, we are equally capable. However, in the other fields, we definitely know more than them," he said.
Take running a chicken farm for example, Dhanin said, CP has as excellent chicken breed and management system as any western agribusiness company.
However, since CP has invested in China since 1979, it is more familiar with China's general situation, China's market and farmers than any of them.
"The western companies are no competitor to us in these aspects," the 60-year-old Dhanin said proudly.
As one of the largest foreign investors in China, CP has invested a total of 1.2 billion US dollars in some 170 companies in the country, of which at least 100 are related to agribusiness.
But is there any company that can compete with CP in China's agricultural market?
"Sure, there are lots of them, " Dhanin said.
Numerous privately-owned Chinese enterprises have already posed a serious threat to CP's dominant role in the country's agricultural market.
"They have highly flexible management system, responding to the market changes very fast. Some of them may fail, but more are coming everyday," said Dhanin.
"CP will face endless competition ever after."
To compete with these companies, CP will update its technology to ensure a step ahead at any time. It will employ more local talent, trusting them with more supports and even open promotion opportunities to executive posts of the group.
As an international conglomerate, CP also pays much attention to the retailing sector, of which China will be a promising market after its WTO accession.
"We has a grand plan in the retailing sector in China," Dhanin said.
The group will abandon its investment in Lotus Superstores in Thailand and focus instead on expanding its retail chain in China.
"We are successful in running Lotus Superstores and 7-Eleven convenience stores in Thailand. I believe that we can be more successful in China given the country's more favorable situation than Thailand's," said Dhanin.
CP plans to strongly expand Lotus in China next year. It has 12 Lotus operating licenses in China, eight in Shanghai and the rest destined for locations in Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
Lotus opened its first store in Shanghai in 1997, and currently trails French retailer Carrefour, which operates six stores in Shanghai with four stores.
Plans are also made for four new Lotus stores to be opened in Shanghai next year, with all 12 operating within the subsequent three years.
The four Lotus stores already opened an average sale of about one million yuan (120,000 US dollars) per day while each store requires a total investment of about 100 million yuan (12 million dollars).
Meanwhile, CP plans to open its 335-million-dollars Super Brand Mall in Shanghai in August next year. The mall began accepting applications from retailers for floor space at the end of October.
Furthermore, the group is exploring the possibility of opening 7-Eleven stores in China.
At the moment the company has submitted an application but has not yet got approval. Applications for opening 7-Eleven convenience stores in China had been made by not just CP, but also by operators in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The opening of a single 7-Eleven store by Hong Kong investors has been approved.
Dhanin believes China's huge population will make retailing market in China as promising as its agricultural market.
"We are very confident in Chinese market," he said.
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